Battle of Kwajalein

The Battle of Kwajalein occurred on 31 January-3 February 1944 when the United States launched an assault on the island of Kwajalein in the Marshall Islands. The US Navy launched two months of airstrikes and naval bombardments on the Marshall Islands to prepare for the attacks, and Kwajalein's commander Monzo Akiyama was killed on 25 January by a naval shell. The landings occurred on 31 January 1944, and the American bombardments paid off. The US troops advanced far, and the Imperial Japanese Army troops resorted to suicidial banzai charges against the Americans; waves of Japanese troops were mown down by machine-gun fire. The island was secure by 3 February 1944.